Number 7 Shirt Retired As Colegate Bows Out

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The Nottingham Lions have announced the retirement of the number 7 jersey, as stalwart forward Chris Colegate revealed he is quitting hockey after twelve years with the club.

It is the first time any Lions player has received the honour.

Since 1999, the 27 year-old has iced for both the Nottingham Junior Ice Hockey Club and the Lions.

Chris played in the ED1 (now the ENL) in the 1999/2000 season and then went onto play for two seasons in the English Premier League (EPL) 2000/01 and 2001/02 as the team stepped up a class to play against the pros. During this period Chris weighed in with 9 goals and 8 assists in 28 games (2001-02) and 9 goals and 6 assists in 32 games (2002-03).

The left-winger struck up a lethal partnership with Joe Wightman that has tormented many a defence and netminder over the years and has led the team to many successful campaigns.

Current Lions coach Matt Bradbury brought Chris through to the Lions from the junior set up to make the big step into senior hockey at just 15 years of age and Matt spoke to nottinghamlionsenl.com about Colegate’s time with the organisation;

“He was not the biggest guy on the ice, but what I saw in him when he first came through to the Lions was how hard he worked, how much heart and passion he had for the game and this was clear to see at such an early age.”

“He is still a great player to this day and such a true professional. All players look up to Chris and he was always that go to guy and he never let his team mates down.”

Chris Colegate

Back in December, Chris picked up and injury against Telford after playing in 15 games. Having already racked up 10 goals and 15 assists, he still finished third top points scorer in the team and Bradbury was in no doubt what a big loss to the team he was;

“As we got to December, we lost our captain and we missed his experience and I’m quite sure we wouldn’t be in the position we are in right now if Chris had managed to play on.”

Colegate did recover in time to play in his testimonial game in April and he also made a return for the Lions’ relegation playoff weekend against Sutton Sting in May, contributing one goal and four assists across the two games.

Everyone at the Lions’ Pride would like to wish Chris all the best for the future.

Valiant Lions Relegated As Sting Triumph

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Nottingham Lions 4 Sutton Sting 4

The Nottingham Lions have been relegated to ENL Division 2 North after a thrilling encounter at the National Ice Centre in their 2nd leg playoff game against Sutton Sting on Sunday evening.

The result meant that Sutton won the tie 11-8 on aggregate and are now promoted to ENL Division 1 North.

After a lackluster performance in yesterday’s first leg defeat at Ice Sheffield, the Lions needed to overturn a three-goal deficit to get back on level terms with their Nottinghamshire rivals.

"1st Goal" - Gareth O'Flaherty.

After a ten-minute delay to allow the record crowd of 1048 to take their seats, Nottingham started the game brightly, Gareth O’Flaherty bouncing the puck off Alex Birch’s crossbar seven minutes in. The feisty winger wasn’t to be denied three minutes later,  finding the net after some good initial work from ex-Panther Nicky Balchin.

After a tight first ten minutes of the second period, the Lions stunned their local rivals with three quick goals in three minutes to put them into an 8-7 aggregate lead. Jack Clarkson grabbing the second goal on the half-hour mark, followed by Joe Wightman and a classy finish on a one-on-one with Sting goalie Birch, from Chris Colegate.

Chris Colegate celebrates after putting the Lions four goals ahead.

Nottingham netminder Alan Levers had to be in fine form as the Lions took a succession of roughing and checking penalties late in the period. However, just as Lions had killed a 5-on-3 Sutton powerplay and a fourth man was leaving the penalty box, the Sting pounced through ex-Hull Stingrays winger Ben Lowe to level the aggregate scores.

In the first ten minutes of the final period, both sides looked nervous and a little fatigued, having played over 100 minutes of hockey in just over 24 hours.

With five minutes left, Birch made a fine point-blank save from Jack Clarkson before Sutton broke away at the other end and Ben Lowe fired past Levers to give the Sting the advantage.

Just seconds later, Lowe was there again to complete his hat-trick, triggering wild celebrations from the Sutton contingent in the crowd.

Nottingham battled on but couldn’t find another score and with seconds remaining, the Sting sealed the Lions’ fate with an empty net goal, tying the game on the night and putting the aggregate score out of the reach of their opponents.

Marcus Maynard testing Alex Birch in the Sting goal.

So a tough season for the Lions ended up, disappointingly, in relegation. There were however, many positives in the young squads’ performances over the 34-game season which show plenty of promise for the future and some consolation can be taken from such a big, noisy crowd coming down to watch what was a great advert for ENL hockey.

A LionsTV post-game interview with head coach Matt Bradbury can be found below;

Stats:

Gareth O’Flaherty 1+0, Jack Clarkson 1+1, Joe Wightman 1+0, Chris Colegate 1+1, Christy Johnson-Brown 0+1, Nicky Balchin 0+1, Danny Rose 0+1.

Period Scores: 1st 1-0, 2nd, 3-1, 3rd 0-3.

Shots: TBC

Lions MOTM: Chris Colegate.

 

0 Days To Go – It’s The Big One!!

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The Nottingham Lions are preparing to try and overturn a three-goal deficit from yesterday’s 7-4 first leg defeat to Sutton Sting at the National Ice Centre this evening.

nottinghamlionsenl.com has been building up to today’s massive second leg, derby game all week and now the day is upon us. The Lions are urging as many people as possible to come down and support the guys later today as they fight to stay in ENL Division 1 North.

Tickets for today’s huge clash are still available to buy from the Arena Box Office. We strongly recommend you purchase in advance using the hotline, thus avoiding any possible queues. Face off is at 5pm (Doors open at the main arena rink at 4.30)

Ticket Prices:

Adults £5.00
Children (Under 16) & OAP’s £3.00
Students (with NUS Card) £2.50
Panthers Season Ticket Holders (must show Panthers Season Ticket) £3.00

Tickets are available in advance from the Arena Box Office or via the Arena Ticket Hotline – 0843 373 3000.

Avantage Sting At Halfway Point

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Sutton Sting 7 Nottingham Lions 4

Sutton Sting gained the upper hand in today’s ENL relegation playoff first leg with a deserved victory over the Lions at Ice Sheffield, out-shooting them 63-35 in the process.

The Lions will now have to overturn a three-goal deficit tomorrow at the National Ice Centre if they are to avoid the drop into ENL 2 North.

Sutton got off to a great start with Richie Oliver weaving his way around the Lions defence to fire home with less that four minutes gone. Nottingham responded immediately with Jack Clarkson levelling matters.

"Two Equalisers" - Jack Clarkson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sting dominated much of the possession in the first period and the Lions rode their luck at times, especially after Ben Lowe’s wrist-shot crashed against the metalwork with fifteen minutes on the clock.

Five minutes into the second, Thomas Jeffery made the most of a hole in the Nottingham’s defence to put Sutton back in the lead but for the second time, Jack Clarkson tied up the game on the powerplay, spotting a gap and slotting past Sting goalie Alex Birch.

The Lions then took the lead with another powerplay goal from Joe Wightman. It was justice for Wightman as Andrew Offord was sent to the box for tripping the forward, who was through on his way to the net seconds earlier.

However, Nottingham’s hold on the game looked destined to be relinquished as Sutton once again began to dominate the play with the Lions goaltender Richard Griffiths pulling off a number of fine saves within the space of three or four minutes before he was finally beaten by Shaun Ashton on 35 minutes.

Two more goals quickly followed, both scored by Ben Lowe, as the Sting put themselves firmly in the driving seat going into the third.

A cagey start to the final period from both sides saw little action until Paul Lane grabbed Sutton’s sixth goal with ten minutes remaining, before Nicky Balchin rattled the home side’s post two minutes later.

Joe Wightman scored his second of the night with four minutes left to make it a two-goal game but the Sting restored their three-goal advantage in the dying seconds through Shaun Ashton.

"Two Goals" - Joe Wightman

After the game, a still upbeat Lions head coach, Matt Bradbury spoke to nottinghamlionsenl.com saying:

“Personally, I’d have been quite happy to come out of here with a two-goal deficit but unfortunately that last goal went in and I don’t think we deserved a three goal one.”

“The worst thing that happened to us in the game was going 3-2 up – our game changed, they stepped it up and we didn’t. Sutton had all of their big game players turn up whilst we had four players turn up tonight and that just can’t happen and must be rectified.”

“We’ve very quickly analysed where the problem areas were tonight and it’s our jobs as the coaches and players to take a lead and put things right.”

“Not playing for nine weeks hasn’t helped at all but now we’ve got to get our game heads on for sixty minutes – It’s only a goal a period – that’s all it is and it’s key that we’re first to the puck tomorrow and play the way we know we can play.”

“We need the support from the people of Nottingham, we need people to come down, cheer us on and get behind the lads because this tie is far from over.”

Tickets for tomorrow’s big clash are still available to buy from the Arena Box Office. We strongly recommend you purchase in advance using the hotline, thus avoiding any possible queues on the day.

Ticket Prices:

Adults £5.00
Children (Under 16) & OAP’s £3.00
Students (with NUS Card) £2.50
Panthers Season Ticket Holders (must show Panthers Season Ticket) £3.00

Tickets are available in advance from the Arena Box Office or via the Arena Ticket Hotline – 0843 373 3000.

Game Stats:

Jack Clarkson 2+1, Joe Wightman 2+1, Chris Colegate 0+3, Ciaran Quinn 0+2

Period Scores: 1st 1-1, 2nd 4-2, 3rd 2-1.

Shots: 63-35.

Lions MOTM – Jack Clarkson.

1 Day To Go – Special Announcement & Bradbury Interview

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The Nottingham Lions are delighted to announce the addition of youngsters Danny Rose and Elliot Perrin to their roster for this weekend.

Danny Rose

Great Britain Under-18 international and current Nottingham Panthers protégé, Rose and recent GB trialist and England and Conference player, Perrin had been due to travel with Nottingham’s Under-18′s squad this weekend for a tournament in Fife, but they have now been released and cleared to play for the Lions in their two games against Sutton Sting.

Elliot Perrin

With only one day to go until the 2nd leg between Nottingham Lions and Sutton Sting at the National Ice Centre (First leg is at Ice Sheffield today – F/O 3.15pm), LionsTV caught up with Lions head coach Matt Bradbury for his thoughts on this weekend’s play off games.

Ticket Prices:

Adults £5.00
Children (Under 16) & OAP’s £3.00
Students (with NUS Card) £2.50
Panthers Season Ticket Holders (must show Panthers Season Ticket) £3.00

Tickets are available in advance from the Arena Box Office or via the Arena Ticket Hotline – 0843 373 3000.

Tickets will be available to buy from the Arena Box Office on the day of the game but we strongly recommend you purchase in advance and avoid any possible queues. Tickets are still available to order on the phone right up until just before face-off.